Do The Prowl!

Written
by
David Freiburger
on February 28, 2014 Contributors: Hot Rod Archives“A swingin’ contest geared to a wild new sound.” Could it be more 1965? That’s how Car Craft’s June ’65 issue described the reason for this photo.

The musical group was the Tigers, forgettable outside of the connection to this promotion that involved GTO godfather Jim Wangers and George Hurst of Hurst Performance fame. The contest required entrants to listen to the Tigers song “GeeTO Tiger” and write in to report how many times the word “tiger” was used, plus provide 25 words on “why I’d like to win the original GeeTO Tiger.” The car was a ’65 tri-power model hopped up by Royal Pontiac with a number of gold-plated Hurst parts, including the wheels. The GTO was won by 19-year-old Alex Lampone, who received it at the ’65 NHRA Nats. It still exists today in mint condition, having floated around the auction scene.

The trophy girl here, seen in an outtake photo we’ve not found elsewhere, is Marlu Been, who according to Car Craft was a pro dancer who developed the steps to The Prowl, to be used while playing “GeeTO Tiger,” and “bound to make rock’n’rollers out of every hot rodder who likes to swing.” Marlu was married to Billy Swan, who wrote a number of country music hits and who later played bass with artists including Kris Kristofferson. In 1974 he had a number-one single, “I Can Help.”